Killing Floor Orgins: Part 1
by Stickeys
Summary: Out of all the games I have played, Killing Floor probably has the least plausible storyline. As a challenge to myself, I have created a storyline that (hopefully) explains how it all came to be. I have tried to be realistic, descriptive and creative with my story. It is written in a similar (nearly identical) format to the novel World War Z. There will be a part 2 (and maybe more)


**London, England**

**June 16****th****, 2029**

**Despite currently being the sixth most populated city in the world, London's downtown area is deserted. There are no cars on the streets, and the only people around are the local militia. This is because nobody wants to live near ground zero. While the site of the outbreak was originally Horzine's Headquarters, it has now been replaced with a monument paying tribute to London's Great Six. This is the place where I meet Markus Bernhart to conduct my interview. **

**Markus is a tall and thin man, with short, gray hair and a thick mustache. He struggles to maintain eye contact throughout the interview, and when he speaks it is almost always in a monotone voice. Markus was one of the top scientists working under Horzine's CEO, Kevin Clamely.**

_So can you give me a little history of Horzine?_

Yes, of course. The Horzine Corporation was originally founded in 2007 as a Biopharmaceutical company. It was a good little company, but that wasn't what Kevin Clamely wanted. He had bigger plans. He wanted to change the world for the better. He wanted to cure diseases, create vaccines, generally improve the world's standard of living and help people. At least that was what he claimed… So in order to make his vision a reality, Kevin took out a loan from the bank and hired the brightest minds he could find all across Europe. That was when I came into the company. After we were all assembled, we set out to develop a cure for Multiple Sclerosis.

With MS, the body basically turns on itself and starts attacking its own nerve fibers, or more specifically the outer myelin layer which protects them. It's an awful disease, I'm pretty sure Kevin's mother actually suffered from it. That was probably why he was so hell-bent on finding a cure. Anyways, our team of just 24 people – including Kevin – began our work in a small, four story building in Manhattan. Money was always an issue, getting enough funding to continue our work, but what really held us together was our boss. Kevin was a great leader. He had this passion for science that was infectious. Under his leadership, our company created a cure in just under eleven months.

Using gene therapy – a technique that had not yet been explored for MS – we bioengineered a vaccine that allowed the body to produce T-cells necessary to stop the destruction of nerve fibers. Of course, the world went nuts when they heard about this. And when the company started manufacturing the cure to sell…

[Markus smiles and begins to get very excited. His tone changes]

Well, we were all rich! It was honestly the happiest time of my life. Standing in the break room with my colleagues, watching the BBC news talk about _our_ cure, and just realizing that Horzine was now in the eyes of the world, and that it was – as Kevin put it – driving the renaissance of science.

_What happened after that?_

After that, it was only uphill from there. With the company pulling in nearly two million a day, Horzine expanded to new avenues. The company established a new HQ: an eight story building in the heart of London. We tackled projects that were so daunting, so challenging… I hate to brag, but we were probably the greatest company in the history of scientific advancement.

I mean, look at what we accomplished! In the four years after we made the MS vaccine, Horzine had already produced a vaccine for hookworm, cured a child of cancer using gene therapy, and had begun working on a full cure for cancer! All of that, in four years! And after that we just kept going! Let's see, what else…We developed Zstat, that little vial which could inject specialized sponges into a wound and heal it within seconds. We birthed that kid who had DNA from three different parents, which sounded ludicrous, except that it seriously decreased the risk of genetic disorders and mutations. Oh, and that girl, Sarah Mackey! She volunteered for project Skylark in 2013. Using gene therapy, we modified her larynx and increased the lengths at which the vocal cords could stretch. The result was a "perfect" voice.

_Perfect?_

Well no, she wasn't perfect; you can't define a perfect voice. But damn, she could sing! From G2 to G12, I think it was, blowing Georgia Brown out of the water! I remember that her video was on Horzine's Youtube page. I think it had something like 250 million "hits". We were all so proud

_So you enjoyed working at Horzine?_

[His smile fades into a look of sadness. His tone becomes monotone again]

Yes, I did. Horzine was a fantastic place to work in those times. Kevin was a great man to work with.

_So then what happened?_

Well, the UK government became very interested with the company, naturally. So they approached Horzine with a "proposition". One morning all the staff were called down to the meeting room. Kevin stood at the podium with a few shady looking government officials surrounding him. Kevin informed the company that he was "happy to announce that Horzine would be exploring new avenues of scientific advancement". He tried to sugar coat it and make it sound like a good thing, but the blunt truth of it all was that Horzine had been hired by the UK government to create super-soldiers.

_Why?_

Well after Kevin got done talking, the government defense minister got up to say a few more words. He did some big spiel on how with the nature of warfare rapidly changing, and the possibility of a new global conflict becoming very real, it was necessary to develop a new kind of weapon that would deter any hostile actions from other countries. By "hostile countries" he clearly meant Russia and China. I remember that at that time Russia was in some sort of second Cold War with the West over Ukraine, and that things were getting pretty tense. So I guess I can understand why the government was so interested in the idea of super soldiers.

_So what kind of super soldiers did they have in mind?_

See, that's the thing. We didn't know what we were supposed to create. We didn't have an end goal in mind, hell I don't even think the government did. I guess that they – the government – just wanted us to work on different projects and see what we could come up with. I mean, if anyone was qualified to do that stuff it was us.

_And did the public know about this?_

No, nobody knew about it. It was all very secretive. Otherwise, how could all of this have happened?

_Of course, that was a silly question. Sorry about that._

It's all fine. At first we all thought these would just be small projects on the side. That's what they led us to believe. That wasn't the case. It happened very slowly, slow enough so that we wouldn't all simultaneously realize what was going on. One by one, all the projects at Horzine were shut down. Years of research, _six _years in the case of the cancer vaccine, were just thrown down the drain. My colleagues and I had been developing a new treatment to repair spinal injuries. One morning I came into work to find that all of our lab equipment was being taken away by Horzine's newly founded security… no, not security. These guys were more like a private army. Mean bunch of lads; Not nearly as interested in science as we were.

_When were the new labs built?_

While all our projects were being decimated. Kevin had a giant laboratory built underneath the offices; a massive facility that went 150 meters down. I remember that all the scientists and I were dumbfounded when we first toured the laboratory. The blinding white walls, the soundproof rooms with one –way glass, the heavy steel doors that opened and shut automatically… it was all so surreal, like being in some kind of a sci-fi film. Oh yeah, and the place even had its own source of energy. They had a geothermal generator that powered the whole facility.

_That's all very high tech. What happened after that?_

Well, our first order of business was to conduct experiments with cloning humans. The company had already been testing a new way of cloning with rats before the government takeover. The experiment had been a huge breakthrough in science, because one: the rat had been grown _outside_ of the womb, and two: it had developed from single cell to adult in just three days. Three days, as opposed to seventy-two! The project was in its early stages though. We hadn't even completed a formal report of the cloned rat's health and behavior. Of course, this didn't matter to Kevin. He gave the orders to begin cloning just four days after we had made a copy of the rat.

_Who did they clone?_

Kevin's son, Brandon. He was this nineteen year old kid who was at Oxford studying law, but came back just for the project. I get the feeling that he didn't really want to, but was coaxed back by his father, and maybe some government types. I remember that the day of the cloning he was shaking.

The process was extremely complex. In order to insure an exact clone and to speed up the process, we gathered all the data on Brandon that we could. We used body scans, brain imaging, blood tests, finger prints, you name it. After we had all this info, we gathered the data and put it into the Auctus reactor, which then compiled the information and created a sort of "blueprint" for cloning. Then we transferred this blueprint into a chamber filled with a special growth stimulating formula. Then we waited.

Any outside interference can screw up the whole developmental process so the chamber was sealed. We couldn't see what was going on inside of it. The only indication of the specimen's growth progress that we had were some computer screens that were monitoring its vitals. I remember that when I came back from my fifteen minute break and checked the creature's vitals at the two hour mark, it had a resting heart rate of 120 beats per minute; almost twice the rate of a normal human! My blood ran cold when I saw that. It was all so insane, so unethical! What had happened to the Kevin that was concerned with helping people? Then again, maybe that was never his plan.

While we carefully observed the screens, I silently prayed that something would go wrong and the creature would never be able to step foot out of the chamber. I was terrified of what would come out, but I was even more scared of what would happen if I didn't comply with Kevin's orders.

After about five and a half hours, the activity readings in the chamber dropped, meaning that our clone was reaching its full maturity. While the other scientists rushed around and prepared for the release of the creature, I personally phoned Kevin and told him of the news. He had said that he wanted to be there for the "big unveiling".

Ten minutes later Kevin had arrived and we were almost ready to unveil. While all the head scientists – along with me and Kevin - watched from the observatory, final preparations were made. The chamber was drained, a team of doctors were assembled and a security team took their positions. After that, we were given the green light and two scientists opened up the chamber.

Just like you'd see in a sci-fi movie, there was the sound of pressure being released and some dark smoke drifted out of the chamber. We all waited for a couple of seconds for the smoke to clear out so we could see the clone. Finally it dissipated and we could see this dark silhouette curled up into a ball near the back of the chamber, unmoving.

Kevin yelled "get that thing out here!" at the scientists. They stood there frozen as well, staring at the chamber with wide, terrified eyes. Kevin was angry. He barked "Christopher, get in their right now and bring that clone out." Christopher looked back at Kevin – and to the armed soldiers – and he complied.

[Markus shakes his head slowly. He is staring off into the distance with angry eyes]

Christopher walked up to the chamber and slowly reached his hand in. Suddenly there was this raspy sounding screech from inside the chamber. Christopher toppled backwards with that thing on top of him. It was attacking him like some sort of enraged animal; scratching at his face, his eyes, his neck…

The soldiers trained their rifles on the creature, ready to fire, but Kevin stopped them. He said, and this is word for word, "let him finish up". He said that! And so we let the fucking thing tear at Christopher's face, with Christopher screaming in agony the entire time. We watched until it finally severed an artery in his neck and he began to bleed out.

The clone – still sitting on top of Christopher's body – looked up at us. That was when I got a good look at it. It was… well you know what they look like. It was very thin, almost looked malnourished. It had pale, dry skin, and its eyes were shrunken back into its skull. And the way it looked at us… I could immediately tell that it wasn't human. I mean, physically it was, but on the inside… emotions, feelings, hopes, dreams, all of that stuff had been lost in the cloning process. All that was left inside that freak was pure, animalistic rage.

Everyone was horrified, everyone except for Kevin. When I looked over at him he was staring at the clone, and he had this big grin on his face… It was almost as if he was looking at a new born child or some shit. He gave orders for the security team to restrain the clone and for the scientists to conduct tests on it to assess its intelligence. Then he wrote something down in his phone and turned and walked away.

_But why did he go so crazy? Didn't you say before that he was a great man to work with?_

Yes, he was! I don't really know what happened. He was always such a nice guy; never set off any red flags. It was almost like the company's change of direction changed his direction too. He became obsessed with building this army of clones. Like I said though, maybe that was what he wanted all along.

_That could be it. So then what happened?_

I got out. The next day I packed my things, took a plane back to Poland and moved in with my mother. What else was I supposed to do? Continue working with the company and their insane experiments? I had seen enough. Of course, when I got there my mother sat me down and asked me what was wrong. I think she somehow knew it involved the company. Motherly instincts I guess.

[His eyes start to well up with tears. He suddenly becomes angry]

I didn't tell her. I didn't tell her about any of it. I didn't fucking tell anybody.

_Why not?_

Because I was selfish! I was worried about myself and what sort of trouble I would get in if I had told everyone the truth, and so I said nothing. I sat around for months while Kevin and his god damn company continued with their experiments! The stupid part was I got caught anyways. A couple of months later some MI6 agents knocked down the door and took us both away. My mother and I were both jailed without trial.

_Listen, you can't blame yourself for this._

Yes I fucking can! I'm responsible for the entire war. If I had just said something, if I had just taken some fucking responsibility this whole thing would have never happened! I could have single-handedly prevented the entire fucking war! I had assumed that Horzine's business was now just London's problem, but it turned out to be the problem of the entire human race.


End file.
